Both parties in frenzy to get out their vote

Turnout at the polls can turn the tide, so candidates and supporters are making a frantic plea in final days before election

November 1, 2008|By Anthony Man Political Writer

Candidates and their supporters are going non-stop from now until the polls close on Election Night, with phone bank operations, door-to-door campaigning, and appearances by political and entertainment celebrities.

"Absolutely critical" is how Tim McClellan, manager of the northeast Broward County campaign office for John McCain, describes the 72 hours until Election Day.

The months, and in some cases years, of campaigning all build to the frenzy of the final weekend through poll-closing Tuesday night.

Efforts to get out the vote, known as "GOTV" or the "ground game" in the political world, can mean the difference between victory and defeat.

"Let's say I'm running against you and you're polling at 52 [percent] and I'm polling at 48 [percent]. But if I can get 80 percent of my 48 to turn out and you can get only 60 percent of your 52 percent to turn out, I win," said Scott Spages, a Davie activist.

He's the Broward leader of the effort supporting Amendment 2, a proposal to add a prohibition of same-sex marriage to the Florida Constitution. Among the efforts he's organizing: phone banks operating all day today and on Sunday afternoon.

Michael Albetta, president of the Florida Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Democratic Caucus, is helping mobilize voters on the opposite side.

Caucus efforts include a GOTV center with 25 phone lines.

Phone banks are used to contact people who've been called before, to give them encouragement, answer questions about when and where to vote, and arrange transportation for voters.

Some of its volunteers will be at the monthly flea market at the Gay and Lesbian Community Center in Fort Lauderdale with the message, "Go straight down Andrews Avenue" to the early voting site at the Broward County Main Library.

Churches will be a focus of attention on Sunday.

After ministers sermonize about the importance of voting, Dorsey Miller, president of Operation Big Vote, said his organization would help people get to the polls on the last day of early voting or to their precincts on Tuesday.

Monica Russo, president of the Florida State Council of the Service Employees International Union, said hundreds of nurses, nursing assistants, janitors and other workers would go from 6 a.m. today until the polls close Tuesday night, "knocking on doors until their knuckles are sore."

Even though they're outnumbered by Democrats, Republicans win Florida elections because their voters are more reliable at turning out, said Lance de Haven-Smith, a political scientist at Florida State University.

That makes GOTV critical.

"If you have a low turnout, the Democrats lose," he said.

Republicans have been GOTV champions.

It was the vaunted 72-hour plan by President Bush's political mastermind Karl Rove that was widely credited with giving Bush a significant edge in the 2000 and 2004 elections.

This year, Barack Obama has spent heavily on campaign staff and organization.

"Obama makes Bush look like a piker," said Charles Zelden, a history and legal studies professor who specializes in politics and voting at Nova Southeastern University.

Dan Reynolds is president of the Broward AFL-CIO, which operates phone banks, provides transportation, and has volunteers at polling places. He said the close 2000 presidential election is a powerful motivating force.

"In 2000, 537 people who needed a ride to the polls could have changed history."

Anthony Man can be reached at aman@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4550.

Active weekend

Activists will be everywhere this weekend, from churches to gay bars, pushing people to get out and vote. Read more at SunSentinel.com/browardpolitics